1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus. In particular, the invention relates to an image pickup apparatus configured to perform an image processing on a panoramic image, an electronic device, a processing method therefor, and a program for instructing a computer to execute the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an image pickup apparatus such as a digital still camera is widely used which is configured to generate a pickup image by picking up an image of a subject such as a landscape and record the generated pickup image as an image file. Also, a panoramic image generation method of generating a panoramic image containing a subject in a relatively wide range by joining a plurality of pickup images continuously generated by such an image pickup apparatus is proposed. As the panoramic image generation method, for example, a panoramic image generation method of detecting a motion vector between continuously generated pickup images and combining the respective pickup images on the basis of this detected motion vector to join the respective pickup images is proposed.
Also, an image pickup apparatus configured to obtain an orientation of the thus generated panoramic image and perform a display control or the like on the panoramic image by using this orientation is proposed. For example, an image pickup apparatus configured to generate a plurality of pickup images while changing a direction of an apparatus main body and add the orientations at the time of these image pickups to the respective corresponding pickup images for conducting the recording is proposed (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-26859 (FIG. 1)).